A woman in Australia has managed to steal around 100,000 XRP, by hacking into a holders email account and then accessing his trading platform account. The 23-year-old woman is still yet to explain how she managed to “hack” the older man’s email account in order to gain control of his XRP, but no doubt more details will come out in court next month. She managed to exchange the XRP into BTC using a Chinese crypto exchange, before withdrawing the funds to her own wallet.
Making Lots of Mistakes
While we don’t condone the young woman’s actions, she certainly made a hash of the theft. For starters, using a decentralized exchange (DEX) would have been a good start, but the worst move was changing the XRP into BTC then pulling it back to her own wallet. These steps allowed the authorities to trace the stolen funds back to the woman. If she had used a DEX and changed the XRP into a more privacy-focused crypto – such as Monero ZCash or PIVX – there is a good chance the authorities wouldn’t have caught her. In fact, these mistakes show that she is a rookie when it comes to stealing and highlight that there is a definite connection between her and the victim.
Stealing at the Peak of the Market
The theft took place back in January when the crypto market was at its peak. Back then, the woman’s XRP haul would have been worth a whopping $500,000. However, since then the price has fallen drastically, so the sum is worth closer to $45,000 now. The victim is likely very frustrated, as he missed the perfect chance to sell his stash – you don’t need to look any further for motive.
Australia is at the Forefront of Blockchain Evolution
When you’re at the forefront of an emerging industry, you’re bound to have incidents like this. Australia has implemented more government-backed blockchain use cases than any other nation on the planet, making it the blockchain island of the south. While it has yet to create any regulations for the industry, it’s certainly doing a good job of progressing.
Trump Backing Ripple
Many in the crypto industry will feel the victim deserved everything he got for even owning Ripple. It’s one of those cryptocurrencies that many people believe isn’t a true crypto due to the massive portion of coins help by the company. However, in spite of this, Donald Trump and his administration are looking to team up with Ripple in order to help combat the Chinese threat against Bitcoin.
Crypto thefts are becoming more commonplace, as more people get into the crypto world. The best way to protect yourself from these thefts is to enable two-factor authentication, as any thief will need access to your mobile phone to successfully steal from you. In addition to this, never brag or talk about how much crypto you own and where you store it, as this simply makes you a bigger target.
